NEW ORLEANS — Last month, Ohio State coach Thad Matta was so disgusted with his team’s effort in practice that he threw them out of the arena.

The Buckeyes couldn’t wait to get to practice yesterday.

That says a lot about why Ohio State is in the Final Four, set to play Kansas on Saturday with a spot in the NCAA championship game at stake.

“As soon as we hit the gym, guys were running down the court,” sophomore forward Lenzelle Smith Jr. said.

The “gym” was the 74,400-seat Superdome, and the Buckeyes were ready to practice even before arriving. All of the players had their ankles taped at the team hotel before boarding the bus.

“We came into practice ready to roll,” Smith said.

Matta said he was pleased with the 90-minute practice, and the players were excited about their intensity.

“I thought in practice here today we had it,” All-America forward Jared Sullinger said. “I thought we were focused. We weren’t having fun. We came out here and competed as a team. As long as we compete and realize that this is a business trip and not a vacation, we will be fine.”

Point guard Aaron Craft said the workout was a continuation of a recent trend.

“All week, practice has been at a pretty high level,” he said. “I think as a basketball team we have done a pretty good job of concentrating, focusing and understanding that when we are in practice, that’s all that matters at that point. It’s been awesome to see us have three really good practices.”

Star power

Sullinger is one of three players, along with Kansas forward Thomas Robinson and Kentucky forward Anthony Davis, participating in the Final Four who were named to the John R. Wooden All-America team this week.

Davis and Robinson, however, are the two favorites for the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, which will be given on Sunday by the Atlanta Tip-off Club, and the Wooden Award, the other premier player-of-the-year honor, which will be announced on April 6.

“At this point in the year, it doesn’t matter about competing with Anthony Davis anymore,” Robinson said. “That was for earlier in the season, before the postseason, to try to prove if I am the best player in the country. Right now, it’s about me trying to get my team to a national championship.”

Davis has won the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the national-player-of-the-year honor that will be awarded here today by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Civil war

Many of the Kentucky and Louisville players know one another, and some are friends from their days as AAU players in the summers of their high-school careers. No one, however, has to remind them heading into Saturday’s game that fans of their respective schools hate one another.

“This is probably the most amped-up Final Four game in college basketball history,” Louisville senior guard Chris Smith said.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said the racial divide that once was part of the rivalry ended when Kentucky hired Tubby Smith as his successor after Pitino led the Wildcats to consecutive NCAA championship games, winning the first in 1996.